


A Turk First

by TwistedSamurai



Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII
Genre: Angst, Beating, Blood, Character Death, Crying, Disowned, Family Issues, Gen, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Torture, Whipping
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-23
Updated: 2020-10-23
Packaged: 2021-03-09 04:41:23
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,212
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27158108
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TwistedSamurai/pseuds/TwistedSamurai
Summary: Tseng betrayed Shinra, sold their secrets to the enemy. No one can get answers out of him, but one Turk is ready to try. She knows it's only going to lead to a bad ending whether she tells him or not, but Elena is damned either way. So she's going to do what's best for Shinra, even if it's not what she wants to do at all.
Comments: 4
Kudos: 5





	A Turk First

**Author's Note:**

> Hooo boy this was only supposed to be a small thing I had in my head and then it turned into a midnight posting and be being sad over Tseng. Please enjoy this.

Someone had betrayed them. It had knocked the wind out of everyone in the Turks, as well as some of the Directors as well. They had known someone higher up and with the ability to get into classified info was leaking information. This had immediately been given to the Turks to sort through, with express permission that it was only to be silent on the entire topic. Which wasn’t something new, honestly.

That was probably why it had been so easy for him to do it, Elena thought as she stared at the empty desk. It was dead silent in the office- Reno had stormed out and slammed the door shut behind him hard enough to make it shake within the first hour of being there, and Rude had silently stood up and made his way to the door. He’d paused for a moment, as if he was about to say something to her. But she had simply shaken her head and Rude had given a small nod before following Reno to try and help him calm down.

Elena stood up, slowly making her way over to the desk. She missed the sound of his fountain pen scratching over reports as he neatly signed his name on each one. How he’d occasionally clear his throat after taking a sip of his coffee, the only real disruption in the steady scratching of ink onto paper. It was deafening to her now, as she carefully picked it up and held it.

She knelt down, reaching into the desk and pulling out her real target as she kept her gaze on the fountain pen. It didn’t look at all special, just a normal everyday pen that was used to sign documents and fill out reports. But she had never seen him use anything else. It had always been this one- was there a story behind it? Would she be able to ask that question as well? The slide of the drawer shutting seemed to echo around the empty office and Elena found herself speaking before she could stop the words.

“Why would you do this.” She whispered to the empty chair. There was no answer; and she didn’t expect there to be. Brushing her blonde hair back behind one ear, she set the pen down again before heading for the door. Reno and Rude were long gone- the way Reno had left in a huff she hadn’t expected them to be near the office. It was painful even being in there, and she felt as though her fingers were burning from where the pen had touched her skin.

Elena lifted her head, chin held high as she headed down the halls of the Shinra Building. People stepped out of her way as she passed, leaving her to make a straight path for the elevators and from there she entered the code to one of the top floors. No one stepped in with her, and if the door opened on another floor, the people waiting either apologized or stepped away as she silently hit the button to close it again.

Her brain was empty now- she pushed away any thought be it good or bad as she finally stepped out. One of the things that they had said made her such a good Turk was her ability to close out every other thing in her mind other than the task at hand. It made it easy for her to do her job. The click of her shoes didn’t even register in her brain as she headed to the office, knuckles rapping against the gold letters there.

“Come in.” Elena stepped inside, closing the door behind herself with a soft click. She looked up, meeting Rufus’ blue eyes and noting right away the strained and exhausted glaze in them. A deeper frown than before settled on her lips as she moved over to stand beside his chair. There was an urge to reach out and put a hand on his shoulder, ease away the tension that was there. But she knew she couldn’t do that no matter how much she tried. Nothing could right now besides… “Where is he?” She asked softly.

“… They brought him down to one of the basement rooms for interrogation. If Heidegger can’t get the answers my father wants-….” Rufus cut off, clenching his jaw as he continued before Elena could say anything. “They made it clear none of you were to be involved in this. Said you would go easy on him, and make up a story as to why he had done it.”

Elena watched as Rufus put his head in his hands, fingers tangling in blonde hair and she paused before speaking. “… Heidegger won’t be able to break him. Tseng is the best Turk that Shinra has. He’s only saying that because he knows that he won’t get any answers.” Another small pause before she set the weapon she had taken from Tseng’s desk in front of Rufus, not missing the hiss of breath as he notices the coiled black whip there. Tseng’s whip. “Let me deal with this. I know him, and I… I know I can get the answers Shinra needs.”

Gaia, but saying those words hurt. It was like she had just vomited with the way bile rose in her throat and she forces herself to take a deep breath. It’s hard, harder when she feels soft fingers rest on top of hers. She looks at Rufus then, sees the way his expression hardens as he stands up and nods.

“I’ll go with you, then. Come on.” He doesn’t wait for her, doesn’t even bother to grab his coat from where it’s currently hanging on the back of the chair as he leaves the room. Elena grips the leather in her hand, slightly soothed by the cool touch of it as she follows Rufus back to the elevators. “He’s under surveillance. The moment he tells them what we need to know about the information he leaked, it will be on tape for us to hear.” He explained, voice flat.

He looked completely different, all of a sudden. Sharp blue eyes staring at the reflective metals of the door as he spoke, and Elena had a glimpse of the strong and serious boss she had first met joining the Turks. The man who had thrown himself between his father and the Turks when most of them had gone rogue. Had thrown it on the line right then and there to protect something he cared for despite the consequences.

And yet now he was leading Elena down to the basement where Tseng was no doubt being beaten for answers they both knew he wouldn’t give. It didn’t matter what Heidegger did to him, Tseng’s disdain for the man would be stronger.

“We’re trying to find out why he did it. And where he leaked the information to. All we can speculate is that his family is involved, but they refuse to speak to Shinra at all, and even then it’s a cold lead since he’s not had communication with them since he left Shinra.” Rufus commented, glancing over briefly. “His older sister was the only one to say anything, and it was simply that she had no brother, and that their family refuses to have any communication with a traitor to Wutai.”

“Could he have been trying to reconcile with them?” Elena asked, frowning deeply. Tseng had never mentioned any of his family- the topic never even came up when he was around, she noted almost absently. It could only be assumed that it was due to how broken off he was from it.

“Yes, but it doesn’t appear to have worked.” Rufus answered. He stepped out of the elevator, leading her towards one of the doors. She hesitated in front of it, but Rufus didn’t bat an eye as he opened it and immediately Heidegger turned with a glare.

Elena didn’t hear him arguing with Rufus. She didn’t even register that the larger man was barking at her to stop as she moved across the room to where Tseng was kneeling on the floor. The whip uncoiled in her hand as she brought it under his chin, lifting his head to look at him.

He had a few cuts on his cheek- one just above his left eye that was steadily bleeding down his temple and mixing in with the ones already on his face. She didn’t say anything and the two soldiers that had been trying to beat him into submission made no move to stop the blonde Turk as she stared her Director in the eyes.

“…. Elena.” Her name snapped her out of the daze and she looked over at Rufus. Heidegger was silent, but she could see he was fuming from the corner of her eyes. “You have a small amount of time to make this work. We’ll leave you be.”

“If you undo him at all you’ll be removed from the building.” Heidegger glared. He had a rather imposing build to him already- the Soldier’s that were with him were already shrinking back under his gaze even though it wasn’t even focused on them. But she didn’t move at all, expression cool and collected as she met his eyes. “I won’t have you helping him free just because he’s a fellow Turk. That man sold our secrets out to the enemy.”

“I understand, sir.” She replied. “My duty and loyalties are to Shinra first, and I’m not going to allow my personal feelings to get involved. Being his partner for even the short time I have been here, however, I thought it best to ask the Vice-President if I could attempt to get answers out of him. As I heard your men’s senseless beating was getting you nowhere closer to anything more than a corpse.”

Rufus fought back his laughter with a cough at the last bit, and Elena watched as Heidegger turned a darker red in anger before storming out of the room and nearly knocking Rufus over. She felt a small twinge of satisfaction she had managed to piss the Director off even more, before Rufus bid her a small farewell and held the door open for a moment longer as the Soldier’s left the room.

A small chuckle sounded from behind her, and she turned to see Tseng with his eyes closed, a small smile on his lips. She didn’t say anything, just dropped the whip and grabbed some napkins from her pocket, starting to clean his face with gentle dabs. As she got to his cheek he moved a little, speaking softly with a pained rasp in his voice. “What are you doing?”

“Cleaning the blood off your face, Tseng. Don’t move.” Her hands were shaking now, as she pressed the cloth to his cheek. But Tseng turned his head away again, refusing to meet her eyes when he opened his own. It appeared he did have a few regrets, she thought.

“You’re a Turk, Elena. Your job is to keep the company’s secrets from getting out not to clean the blood off of someone you’re questioning. You can’t let your personal feelings hold you back from that.” Despite the fact he was bruised from whatever Heidegger’s men had put him through, his eyes stayed focused on hers as if he was simply giving her another mission briefing, dark brown not showing a hint of his true emotions.

Elena grit her teeth at Tseng’s words. She knew he was right- knew the man had worked with her and taught her so much in her time there at Shinra. The blonde clenched her hands into fists for a moment before unclenching the one not holding the blood covered napkin and swinging out. She barely even realized that she had done it. Her hand stung from the impact as she froze for a moment.

The slap had Tseng’s head snapping to the side, but he still stayed silent, closing his eyes once more. “Why then? Why would you do this- Dammit. Answer me!” She couldn’t help the tears welling in her eyes as she looked at him, one hand moving to grip his hair and finding that once she started speaking, it became a little easier to keep going. “Look me in the eyes and fucking answer me.” She whispered, and dark brown met her, still with that same emotionless look. She let go, pushing him back and gritting her teeth at the small chuckle it earned her as she turned away.

“Is that why you came here? To vent out your frustrations?” Tseng shifted a little, the clink of the chains holding his hands above his head causing Elena to glance back over. “… Elena. I betrayed the company. I will not give any answers and I do not regret my decisions. You knew that the moment you walked in here.”

“No. No I will get those answers. I’m not some rookie who just walked in and… And has no idea. I’ve killed people for far less than giving out company secrets. You know that as well as I do.” She reached down, grabbing the whip off the floor. While she wasn’t as good with it as Tseng was she knew how to use it and how to make it hurt. Stepping around him, she watched as he tilted his head a little to try and keep her in his line of sight.

The first crack of the whip was louder in her ears than anything else. Tseng jolted against his bindings but stayed stubbornly silent even though Elena knew it had to have hurt him with the way his body had moved. Each crack after that seemed to only get louder and louder. She lost count of the times she hit him and couldn’t see through the tears building up in her eyes, blurring her vision. The whip hit the floor with a dull thud, trailing behind her steps as she moved back in front of Tseng blinking rapidly until she could see his pain-stricken face.

Her grip was gentle, as if she was about to do nothing more than pull him into a sweet kiss as she tilted his face up to look at her. “Why the hell did you do it Tseng?” She whispered, hiccupping a little. “Why did you just throw everything away like this- what did you throw it away for? Are you really happy with this ending? With throwing away your life?”

Tseng didn’t answer her- but Elena didn’t need to hear any words. The pain that she could see on his face- and she knew she wouldn’t need to ask anything else. It wasn’t her actions or the pain he was in that had Tseng breaking, but her reaction. He had always been willing to die for them, to defend them until the end. Seeing her in tears, now, because of him, had Tseng licked his lips. He couldn’t stop himself form looking away from her tear streaked face before speaking in a low whisper.

“Call Rufus in here.” Elena stepped back, letting go of him and nodding. She turned away from him as she pulled out her phone and called Rufus. Tseng took a few deep breaths behind her, each exhaled followed by a low noise of pain and she was almost afraid to see what the whip had done to his back.

“Elena.” Rufus was silent for a moment, and Elena found she couldn’t speak. The words clogged in her throat, as if acting like a dam to hold back the fresh tears that threatened to spill over. “… I’ll send Heide-”

“He wants to talk to you.” Hearing the beginning of that mans name had her spilling the words out with a choked sob. “He… He’s willing to talk to you, sir.” There was a beat of silence before Rufus hung up. Elena didn’t move, shaking as the door opened and Rufus stepped in, closing it behind him.

“… You can go with you wish.” He said after a moment, walking over and grabbing her hand. Elena realized she still had the whip in her hand, knuckles white as she clutched the handle. Rufus slowly pried it off of her, tossing it across the room and Elena closed her eyes. “Or you can stay.”

“… No. I-… I can’t.” She pulled away from him, before half running out the door and frantically hitting the button for the elevator. The moment she was in it and the door shut she shook, btu held it together just barely. Her brain went through the motions automatically, carrying her to her car and then to her apartment where she fell into a sobbing mess into the sheets until she fell asleep, not even having the energy to care enough to change.

It was her phone going off that woke her up. Reno. She really didn’t want to answer and rolled away. But he didn’t stop calling. Two times. Four. Seven. On the ninth call she answered. “What, Reno?”

“… I’m… I’m the new Director. Of the department. You’re gonna partner with Rude, now. I-… I just needed to tell you.” Reno’s voice was soft, and Elena froze at the words, her brain not fully registering what he meant. Or rather, they did register the words but chose to ignore the meaning of it. She knew what Reno’s promotion meant. Knew what Rufus had probably done as soon as Tseng had given him answers.

Quick and merciful, she thought numbly as she spoke. Her voices sounded miles away, as if it was someone else speaking. “When?”

“It’s gonna be just the four of us. Rufus isn’t letting anyone else catch wind, cause it’d only cause problems… Tomorrow night.” Reno replied without even asking what she meant. She knew he didn’t need to know. “You don’t have to come in, Laney. Stay home.” He added, his voice still gentle as he used the nickname she had been given.

Elena didn’t say anything else just hung up and set her phone on the pillow beside her. Rude had sent her a message asking how she was doing, and there was a few emails. One from Rufus detailing things, and then another congratulating her on a job well done as well as another with a pay raise.

Congratulations. For what, she thought bitterly. For being the reason her partner had left? She wondered if she had done nothing and stayed back, sat in the office or had followed Reno maybe. Would Tseng have told anyone anything? She could still feel the leather of the whip in her hand, hear the crack as it hit his skin and broke through.

“I’m so sorry. I’m sorry.” She whispered as she saw his contact. She locked the screen before burying her face into the pillow and letting herself cry once again. This was the last time she was going to be weak. As she felt the sobbing slowly subside, she pushed the grief away. Locked in away, closed it off.

_You’re a Turk, Elena. ___

__She was a Turk, she told herself as she sniffled and rubbed away the tears. Even if it had to end like this, she would keep going, and she would make him proud._ _


End file.
